(Visual China/Photo)
Accused of domestic violence against his daughter by his ex-wife Kim, Li Yang, the founder of "Crazy English", once again fell into public opinion disputes.
On the afternoon of March 17, 2022, Li Yang held a pretrial conversation online in the case of Li Yang v. ex-wife Kim's online tort liability dispute. The plaintiffs in this case, Li Yang, Guangdong Li Yang Culture and Education Development Co., Ltd., the defendant Ms. Kim, as well as Beijing Weimeng Chuangke Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd.
The case began on August 29, 2021, when Kim accused Li Yang of domestic violence against his daughter on Weibo. Li Yang commissioned a lawyer to issue a statement the next day saying that the allegations were seriously untrue, and then sued his ex-wife, Ms. Kim, and related online platforms in the Beijing Internet Court on the grounds of an online infringement liability dispute.
Zhou Zhaocheng, a lawyer entrusted by Li Yang, said that Ms. Kim's comments such as "Li Yang's domestic violence daughter" posted on the online platform triggered netizens to attack Li Yang and the "Crazy English" brand, and Li Yang suffered online violence. At the same time, Li Yang's company also suffered serious consequences such as damaged goodwill and termination of partners.
To this end, Li Yangfang demanded that the defendant Ms. Kim and the online platform delete and break the chain of the false post that damaged the plaintiff's right to reputation, and publicly apologize to the plaintiff; demanded that the defendant compensate the plaintiff Li Yang for economic losses and consolation payments for mental damage totaling 200,000 yuan, and at the same time compensate Li Yang for economic losses of 10 million yuan.
"In July 2021, Li Yang learned through the feedback of his daughter's teacher that her daughter had serious problems such as absenteeism, so there was a 'fierce verbal dispute' when educating her daughter. However, Li Yang did not commit any violence against his daughter throughout the whole process. On March 17, 2022, Li Yangfang told the media.
After the pre-trial conversation, Li Yang told southern weekend reporters that the significance of the lawsuit is related to the right to discipline family education: "Filial piety under the stick, even if the child is beaten in China, it should be." Which one doesn't beat up the kids. ”
As of press time, Kim has not responded to Southern Weekend reporters' interview requests. In response to the lawsuit, she forwarded the news titled "The ex-wife said that she had evidence of Li Yang's abusive daughter in her hands, and she was surprised to be prosecuted", saying that she "just wanted to stay away from this tyrannical person." Now I have to hire a lawyer and spend my time, money and energy on Li Yang's malicious lawsuits."
Li Yang's ex-wife: The prosecution is to continue domestic violence and control the victims
On August 29, 2021, Li Yang's ex-wife Kim posted a video on Weibo accusing Li Yang of beating her daughter. A room-like shot appears at the beginning of the video, followed by a black screen where only sound can be heard. Li Yang's voice was shouting: "Write a report, what happened?" (Write a report, what happened?) The voice grew louder and louder, followed by a furious roar. This was followed by a cacophony of overturned and noisy sounds, one girl screaming and crying, another opening the door and yelling, "What are you doing?" You want to kill me？ (What are you doing?) Are you trying to kill me? The video quickly attracted attention, with 46 million views to date.
The day after the video was released, Kim released her daughter's chat with her. Daughter Li Na told her that she turned on the video when she heard Li Yang yelling at her sister Li Hua. Then she heard Li Yang beating her sister, she began to shout, Li Yang pinched her neck in the process, hit her with his fist, and dragged her hair to the ground. Li Na hit back.
"It's simply unacceptable for a man of more than 110 kilograms, 1.8 meters to beat a girl aged 12 and 15," Kim said in a blog post.
Kim's Tweets. (Network screenshot/figure)
In several posts and interactions with fans, Kim mentioned that the reason for sending her daughter back to China was that "China shielded them from the coronavirus pandemic and the anti-Asian hatred that ravaged the United States," and she thanked Li Yang's sister Li Ning for taking care of her two daughters during this period. But after the video was released, Kim said that Li Yang and members of Crazy English threatened their daughter not to tell her mother about domestic violence, and also "hacked" into Li Hua's WeChat.
She was quite angry about this: "Ten years ago, when you (referring to Li Yang) beat me, you said it was Chinese culture. In 2021, they are still saying 'you don't understand Chinese culture, Teacher Li is our master'. ”
In 2011, Kim exposed Li Yang's domestic violence against her, which aroused public concern. In 2013, the Chaoyang District Court of Beijing found Li Yang's domestic violence established and granted Kim and Li Yang a divorce, with his three daughters raised by Kim.
In the years since, Kim has actively participated in anti-domestic violence campaigns in China, speaking up for victims. So that for a long time, every time there was a domestic violence incident that aroused public concern, she would receive a lot of information, ask her about her situation, and ask her for comments on the domestic violence incident that caused concern.
On the 2019 International Day to Eliminate Domestic Violence, blogger Yu Ya exposed the video of himself being dragged and beaten by his ex-boyfriend in the elevator, which caused a lot of attention. Kim posted a long Weibo post at this time, expressing forgiveness for Li Yang. This move puzzled many, many of whom thought that such a statement of forgiveness for the perpetrators was inappropriate.
Kim said in an interview with the media that "'forgiveness' does not mean that there is no problem with domestic violence, and it does not mean that the perpetrator can escape the punishment of the law." She said that after eight years of divorce, she had her own life and a stronger heart. As a victim, you have the right to choose your life. "I'm really tired, I tweet in the hope that someone will understand, I don't want to be a spokesperson for domestic violence forever."
But this time, the daughter's encounter broke the tranquility. On February 13, 2022, Kim posted a blog post saying she had received a notice from a Beijing court that Li Yang had sued her. She called the move a "high-pressure control" in domestic violence, she is busy at work, raising children, hiring a lawyer, communicating with the court is not easy, "abusers can not accept that their victims have their own independent lives, so they carry out malicious lawsuits to try to control their former victims."
Li Yang: "There are such skirmishes in any family"
In Li Yang's view, there is a completely different version of the incident.
On March 17, 2022, before the pre-trial conversation began, the "Li Yang Crazy English" WeChat subscription account was titled Li Na and Li Hua's chinese life records, telling the story of the incident from the perspective of Li Yang's sister Li Ning.
In Li Ning's account, on January 26, 2020, two children were "dumped" back to China by Kim. For the next year and a half, Li Ning took care of the sisters' lives and studies. During the epidemic at home, Li Ning took her children to learn Chinese, practice brush writing, and make sushi.
Li Ning told Southern Weekend reporters that because Kim did not cooperate in providing the child's birth certificate, transfer certificate and other certificates, Li Na and Li Hua, who held foreign passports, had difficulty enrolling in school, and only after several tosses did they enter an international school. In July 2021, after Li Yang clashed with his daughter, Kim asked to send her two children back to the United States, but was still blocked by documentation issues.
The article also provides a number of photos and videos to illustrate that during his time in China, Li Yang got along well with Li Na and Li Hua. "We did a lot of things, took them to speak, took them on a tour, it was great."
Li Yang said that the reason for the conflict was that Li Na had serious problems such as absenteeism and night absence. "The teacher has been reflecting for a long time, and the aunt has been in charge for a long time, and she has not listened."
Li Yang said that on the day of the conflict, the child returned from school holidays, and he wanted to educate his daughter and solve the problem. He spoke separately with his two daughters and asked them to write reports. When educating Li Hua, Li Na rushed out, "Three punches directly from my back, I took my hand to block back."
After Kim published the video, Li Yang stressed several times that the video posted by Kim was taken and that the full video would be released if needed. On March 17, 2022, Li Yang provided southern weekend reporters with a complete video of 4 minutes and 30 seconds to be presented at the trial. After the first few shaky shots, the video is still black, but with text commentary. Around 17 seconds in the video, Li Na opened the door and rushed into Li Hua's room, followed by repeated yelling and screaming; in the 30th second, there was the voice of Li Yang's secretary Lisa dissuading, and at 1 minute and 20 seconds, the fierce quarrel eased, and the two sides began to talk.
The "Li Yang Crazy English" subscription account posted photos saying that after the conflict on July 2, 2021, the father and daughter held a family meeting in Li Na's room. Photo taken by Li Ning. (Network screenshot/figure)
"It's okay, there are such small conflicts in any home." Li Yang stressed that the conflict time is very short, and such a small matter is deliberately amplified by Kim. For the picture evidence that Kim previously disclosed on Weibo, Li Yang refuted one by one, which mentioned that the wound at the corner of Li Hua's mouth should have been scratched by Li Na's nail art during the process of pushing and shoving, and he did not grow his own nails.
Li Yang said that he hopes to see whether the "right to discipline in family education" can be clarified in the future through this incident, which is the significance of the prosecution. He said that Kim "slandered" his abusive child, and if the court ruled that Kim's online infringement was established, he would not really claim for ten million yuan in damages: "If I was judged, I would also say that I would forget it, a write-off ... It's like teaching her a lesson, stop talking nonsense, that's all."
The lawyer entrusted by Li Yang told Southern Weekend that the court's pre-trial conversation was mainly to clarify the plaintiff's litigation claims and determine the time node of the defendant's infringing content; at the same time, to clarify the content of the plaintiff's application for act preservation. As for whether the defendant Kim conducted a pre-trial conversation, they did not know that neither Kim nor the online platform party complained about this time was present. The specific hearing time is subject to further notice by the court.
Southern Weekend reporter Liu Yixian